Breaking taboos around “living commandments” in India

In 2010, IP Yadev, a surgeon from the Indian state of Kerala, faced one of the most difficult decisions in his life.

He had to decide between keeping his father – a cancer patient at the station – alive and honoring his desire, by verbally, to stop all the treatments and put an end to his suffering.

Warning: This article contains some sad details

“As a son, I felt that it was my duty to do everything in my power to prolong my father's life. This made him unhappy and ended up with death alone in an intense intense care unit. The ribs.

He says that the experiment strongly affected him and helped him to realize the importance of advanced medical directives (AMDS), also known as Wlles Living.

The living will is a legal document that allows a person for more than 18 years to choose the medical care they want to obtain if they have a disease or terminal without hope for recovery and they cannot make decisions themselves.

For example, they can determine that they do not want to put life support machines or insist that they want to give adequate medications to provide pain.

in 2018The Supreme Court in India allowed people to put living commandments and thus choose negative compassionate murder, where medical treatment can be withdrawn under strict guidelines to accelerate the death of a person. Acting compassionate murder – any act that intentionally helps a person to kill himself – is illegal in the country.

But despite the legal light, the concept of living commandments in India has not started. Experts say this has a great relationship with the way the Indians speak, or rather, do not talk about death. Death is often considered a subject of taboo and believes that any male brings bad luck.

But there are now ongoing efforts to change this.

In November, Dr. Yadiv and his team launched the first program for India – at the Government College of Medicine in the Kulaim region of Kerala – to educate people about living commandments, and to provide information personally or over the phone. Volunteers also make awareness campaigns and distribute templates.

Create a livelihood requires family members to hold open and honest talks about death. Despite some resistance, activists and institutions take steps to increase awareness, and there is increased interest, albeit careful.

Kerala leads the road in these talks. Currently, it has the country The best tilted care networkOrganizations that provide at the end of life have also started awareness campaigns about living commandments.

In March, About 30 people from the Association for Pain and Care In Thrissur City, the living wills occurred. Dr. I Devakran, the founder of the association, says this gesture aims to make the idea more popular among people.

“Most people have never heard of the term even have many questions, such as whether to misuse such a directive or if they can make changes to their will later,” Yadiv says, adding that most of the inquiries have come from people in the fifties and sixties.

“At the present time, it is the upper and middle class that uses the facility. But with popular awareness campaigns, we expect the demographic to accommodate,” he says.

According to the Supreme Court order, the person must formulate the will, sign it in the presence of two witnesses, and witnessed by a notary officer or the newspaper. A copy of the will must then be presented to a specific guard by the state government.

While the instructions are on paper, many state governments have not yet established mechanisms to implement them. This is what Dr. Nijil Datar, a gynecologist from Mumbai, realized when he earned his livelihood two years ago because there was no guard he could present to him.

Therefore, he went to the court, and this led to the government of Maharashtra, appointing about 400 officials through the state's local bodies to work as a living to live.

In June, The state of Gawa has implemented the orders of the Supreme Court About the living wills and the Supreme Court judge became the first person in the state to record one.

on saturday, Karnataka has ordered Province's health officers to nominate people to work in a major medical council required to ratify living commandments. (Two medical plates must be believed that the patient meets the criteria necessary to implement the will of living before medical practitioners can dispose of them).

Mr. DATAR also calls for a central and developed digital warehouse, which can be accessed worldwide. He made his own will available for free on his website as a template. He believes that the will helps prevent the problems of both families and doctors when the patient is in a vegetarian condition and outside the healing.

“Often, family members do not want a person to bear more treatment, but because they cannot take care of the patient at home, they keep them in the hospital. Doctors are obligated to medical morals, they cannot block the treatment, so Datar says:” Ends The patient is suffering without any way to express their desires. “

Live commandments are not only related to the choice of negative compassionate murder. Dr. Yadiv recalls the case that a person wanted to determine his will that he should be placed on supporting life if his condition requires this.

“He made it clear that his only child was living outside and that he did not want to die until his son met.” “You have the freedom to choose how you want to die. It's one of the greatest rights available to us, so why don't you exercise it?” He says.

Health care advocates say that talks about tilted care are slowly growing in the country, giving a driving force to live will.

Dr. Sushma Batnagar of the Institute of all India for Medical Sciences in Delhi says that the hospital launches a department to educate patients about living commandments. “Ideally, doctors must discuss living commandments with patients, but there is a gap in communication,” she says, adding that the training doctors of these conversations can help ensure the death of the person in dignity.

“Throughout our lives, our options are colored by the desires of our loved ones, or what society believes is right,” says Mr. Yadiv.

“At least in death, let's make options in our interest completely.”